This is the heartbreaking moment footballers broke down in tears as they gathered with family and fans to remember teammates perished in a devastating plane crash in Colombia. Grieving Chapecoense players huddled together in front of tens of thousands of supporters at the team’s stadium in Chapeco, southern Brazil on the night the club was supposed to be competing in the Copa Sudamericana final. While the stands were a solid wall of green representing the team colours, the pitch was empty in a tragic reminder that players were due to be lining up for the club’s biggest ever fixture against Atletico Nacional.

Instead of a shot at glory, the team, many of the chief staff, and 20 Brazilian journalists were killed when their charter plane slammed into a mountainside short of the airport late on Monday.

Players who had not been on the doomed flight, youth academy members, relatives of those killed and throngs upon throngs of ordinary fans joined together, all in the team colours.